Candy corn cake pops

Every year our church has a Harvest party with a dessert auction to raise money for Operation Christmas child.  This year the week before was so busy that I ended up making something the day of....actually just a few hours before.  I wanted something easy but cute, so I did what I always do.....I googled it. 

And, there I found my inspiration from this tutorial.

http://www.365cakepops.com/p/tutorials-halloween-cake-pops.html

I thought cake pops would be cute but didn't want anything too scary so little candy corn guys were the perfect solution.

Now, understand that I'm not very artistic, patient, steady-handed, and did I mention patient?  So, with the party fast approaching and a long list of things to do on a Saturday, I went a little quickly through the decorating process.  But if you squint your eyes or look at these between the hours of 2am and 5am, they may actually look cute!

Okay, okay, they were kinda cute, they just weren't perfect because I was in a hurry.

So fun to pretend I'm creative every once in awhile :-)

Impropmtu date

What do you call an evening of filling the gas tank, sipping a happy hour Starbucks while driving to buy a craigslist freezer, topped off with a burger from Five Guys???

I'd call it a pretty stinkin amazing planned at the last second, impromptu date night.

Loved our date.  Love him more.

Random pictures on a rainy afternoon

It is a wonderful rainy afternoon, perfect for cozying up in sweatpants and sorting through pictures that I really need to post on the blog for the grandparents.

Friday night our EPIC youth event was a bonfire night complete with hot dogs, smores, games and devotional.  We invited boys to hang out at this event, even though EPIC is normally a girls group.  So, Peter and my boys came and joined the fun for awhile too, then Peter brought them home around 8:45.  There were probably about 20 youth there and even though they would have stayed longer, we finally left around 11:45.  This girl is not used to staying out that late, ha!  By the time we took the girls home it was well after midnight before I got home.  It was really fun though and I'm so grateful for this ministry.

Saturday morning Peter let me sleep an extra 45 minutes after the boys got up (love him!).  We just had a low key morning complete with lots of pancakes.  Then I made a few goodies for our church's Harvest party.  I made puppy chow (or muddy buddy) just because it sounded sooo good.  And I also made some fun cake pops, but I'll post pictures of those later as well as pictures from the party.

For now, here's some random pictures of our life lately....

building a house for his guys

 cooking dinner with my boy

 he's a great helper

reading his train book to Floppy

 Jon-Jon looooves bath time

so does Ben

 don't grow up too fast now Ben!

 my happy baby (zoom in to see his 2 bottom teeth getting so big now!)

 this boy sure does have an appetite

 the mess my 2 boys make is ridiculous.  I wonder why I ever even bother sweeping?

he was hoping for a little dessert.....but did not succeed :-)

 

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday afternoons, rainy or not!

A few house projects

A couple of weeks ago, I got the urge to rearrange my living room.  I just wanted to think of another way to setup our furniture to make it more cozy and a little more open in the entry area.  So while I was talking to my sister one day, I multi-tasked and moved some stuff around. 

Here is a picture of what it used to look like......

Here is what is looks like now.....

Peter and I really like how it opens up the entry way, and makes a nice cozy couch section for watching a movie together as a family, or vegging with a book in the evening.  And there's still plenty of floor space for my busy boys to play on.

In moving stuff around, it provided a nice new spot to setup a desk area downstairs.  I knew it was only a matter of time before keeping my laptop on the couch would result in one of my boys spilling milk on it, myself spilling coffee on it, or one of their cute little bums crushing it during a karate fest.

However, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a desk because it wasn't a necessity.  And I didn't want anything super wide or deep because it would cut off the walk through from the dining room.  So one Saturday we went out to look at a few thrift stores but had no luck.  But we stopped at a random barn garage sale where Peter "had a feeling" (ha!) and we found a desk there we thought might work.  It would provide a little storage without being bulky and it wasn't too long or deep like some desks are.

I forgot to take a before picture but just picture an ugly cream color with a shiny top, and ugly gold hardware with a white pendant in the middle.  Yuck!

So I gave it a couple coats of primer and a couple coats of paint.  We were going to get new hardware but the holes from the previous hardware were spaced wider than normal so I decided to just buy rubbed bronze spray paint and give them an update.

We also found a chair at a thrift store that had a dirty brownish fabric covering on it.  Walking through Wal-Mart the next day I found a fabric I thought might work, and it was on clearance for $2 a yard, yes!!  So I just recovered the chair in the pretty, new fabric.

It went from ugly cream with gold hardware to this......here's the result......

 



It has worked out wonderfully to have a little space for my laptop, and a place to store a few things.  I didn't realize how much I would like and use it!  And the best part is......we got the desk for only $10!!!!  The chair was $5.99, the fabric was $1, and the spray paint was $4.99.  So all total it was about $22 for a desk that fits the space perfectly!!

Peter liked the fabric and since it was super cheap I got inspired to make kitchen valances for my kitchen.  I have never had any curtains/valances in there because I could never find something I liked that fit the space and wasn't too country. 

So, although my sewing skills are limited, I followed a tutorial online and am pretty happy with the results.  They add a little cheer to the kitchen and the total for the hardware and fabric was about $25 which is pretty cheap for two windows!

It's funny how just a few simple changes can make your home feel more like a home :-)

Four Boys

Our friends' little girl, Haddie, went to the hospital yesterday afternoon because she has pnemonia....she ended up staying overnight.  Her two younger brothers spent the afternoon/evening with us yesterday and are here again this morning so Kristen and Jeremy can take care of their little girl.  The amount of boys in my house has doubled and it's both crazy and fun!  The younger ones are napping so I'm getting a few things done while I have a free hand.

Praying hard for sweet little Haddie!!

Potty Training?!?!?

What have I got myself into?  Potty training?  Oh goodness, save me.  To say I've been dreading this would be a bit of an understatement.  It all just seemed overwhelming and honestly, just messy.  But alas, diapers are expensive and Benjamin seems ready so off we went!

Day 1.  Um, yeah it was exhausting.  All day long we spent with trips to the potty, changing underwear over and over, putting stickers on his chart, eating jellybeans....the whole works.  The pros........he's very aware of when he's going potty and grasps the concept of how to sit on and go potty on the toilet.  The cons.......he sometimes realizes this only after he's wet his underwear.  Of course this is expected, but boy oh boy, it is tiring.

We're plowing forward though and tomorrow's a new day.  I may end up paying more money to color my hair month after month after I go gray than I ever would have for diapers.......but it must be done.

*Remind me of this again in 2 days when I'm curled up in a ball in the corner of my kitchen crying, ha!*

On another note, Jonah is crawling everywhere and has just had an explosion of personality the past few days.  I took the cutest video of him belly laughing so hard when Benjamin was jumping and crashing in his crib, it was adorable.  He's babbling a ton, smiling these huge goofy grins, and exploring everything.  He was also intentionally playing "peek-a-boo" with his sleeper.  And he totally knows how to "hi-ya" with the cardboard lightsaber.....he had a ball fighting Daddy.  I just love it.

Pumpkin Pictures

A couple of Saturday's ago we met our good friends for a morning of pancakes and pumpkins.  We ate at a local dive diner where we had a super cheap breakfast including pancakes that I think were bigger than Jonah.  It was delicious.  And bless the waitress who didn't lose her patience with the table of 4 adults and 6 children :-)

After breakfast we headed to a local farm for a morning of hayrides, sunflower mazes, and pumpkin picking.  It was perfect weather...not too cold, but cool enough to feel like fall.  And no rain, yippee!

It was a great way to spend a morning.

My little guys on the way to the diner....

A good time was had by everyone!

 Benjamin was living the dream :-)

 starting the maze

 finishing strong!

 wheel barrow rides are the best

 my handsome, handsome boys

 Elijah and his pumpkin....he later exchanged it for a smaller one since it would have cost way too much, ha!

 he was so happy to be outside

 Nehemiah and Jonah had so much fun playing in the straw

 someone did not like Daddy trying to get him to jump around in the straw :-)

love this picture of Micah & Ben....best friends